Research

Research

At Inclusion Barnet, we believe that research is important.

Research is a process that helps us to discover new things; it usually involves picking a subject and engaging with it, often through a careful and detailed study. As a peer-led organisation, we feel that there is a lack of research that deals with the realities of work that is led by disabled people. The research that we read does not always describe or take into account how different working life can be for a disabled person, and especially how different a working environment can be when it is led by disabled people. Because of this, Inclusion Barnet is working hard to carry out this work ourselves.

Peer Support in Practice

Inclusion Barnet won funding from Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) in order to learn more about peer support in April 2017. Our research focused on finding out more about the organisational values, structures and practices that best supported the implementation of successful peer support programmes. To do this, we looked at how organisations manage peer support workers and services, and how the working environment can be organised to promote and enourage the best quality peer support possible.

We worked alongside Inclusion London, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Real Lives and Barnet Voice for Mental Health. It was one of the first projects to be awarded funding from the DRILL programme, which is a five-year scheme led by disabled people and funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Managing Peer Led Organisations

Inclusion Barnet worked with CPEA Associates on a Skills for Care innovation funded project to capture the skills and knowledge required to manage peer led organisations. We co-produced this work with a number of Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations from London and beyond. We currently have a working copy available for download, but are working hard to develop this work further.

Cross Cutting Research

Inclusion Barnet has an ongoing partnership to deliver research for Healthwatch Barnet. These research projects usually focus on understanding more about disabled people’s experiences of accessing services, or elements of their lives that might be affected by the way services are designed.

We have written three reports so far, this includes finding out more about how people with learning disabilities experience domiciliary care, personal assistants and floating support workers; understanding more about the effects of rising support thresholds on people with mild-moderate care needs who do not qualify for long-term support; as well as better understanding the experiences of people who are experiencing mental distress and the process they go through when making complaints.

Cuts Impact Action Now (CIAN) Research Report

The learning disability team, People’s Choice, were involved in a joint research project with People First from 2012 to 2016 which was funded by Trust for London. The research looked into how government cuts and changes to benefits and services have impacted people with learning disabilities in Barnet.

By undertaking this research we have shown how important it is for people with learning disabilities to have their voices heard and their experiences understood.

We believe that the work we do as disabled peers is unique, but that research which proves this is scarce. Therefore we do this research ourselves, proving that our approaches are powerful and creating resources to help others do the same.

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